Constellation which forms a w shape in the sky

Draco has several myths associated with it. According to Greek mythology, Draco was the dragon that guarded the golden apples at the garden Hesperides, which Hercules was charged to retrieve as part of his 12 labors.

Hercules killed Draco in this task, which explains why Hercules appears close to Draco in the sky. Draco was placed in the sky to reward his faithful guarding of the garden.

To read more about these constellations and get the latest update on astronomical news, visit EarthSky. Click here to see a PDF Version of this information. Draco Photo Credit: EarthSky. The four bright stars appear to be arranged in the form of a quadrilateral. The star Sirius , which is the brightest star in the sky, is located close to Orion.

To locate Sirius, imagine a straight line passing through the three middle stars of Orion. Look along this line towards the east. This line will lead you to a very bright star. Cassiopeia is another prominent constellation in the northern sky. It is visible during winter in the early part of the night. It looks like a distorted letter W or M. A constellation does not have only stars. It has a large number of stars. However, we can see only the bright stars in a constellation with our naked eye.

All the stars which make up a constellation are not at the same distance. They are just in the same line of sight in the sky. Cite this Simulator:. Its apparent magnitude can be either slightly brighter or dimmer than Caph Alpha Cassiopeiae , depending on which photometric system is used.

It is in the range from 2. It is classified as a Delta Scuti type variable star. The only Delta Scuti variable brighter than Caph is Altair , the brightest star in the constellation Aquila and 12th brightest star in the sky. Delta Scuti variables, which are also known as Dwarf Cepheids, Al Velae or Al Velorum stars, typically show fluctuations in luminosity due to both radial and non-radial pulsations on their surface. They are usually giants or main sequence stars of spectral types ranging between A0 and F5.

Caph has a mean apparent magnitude of 2. Together with the stars Alpheratz in Andromeda and Algenib in Pegasus , Caph was known as one of the Three Guides; three bright stars marking the equinoctial colure, the imaginary line from Caph to Alpheratz to the celestial equator, at a point where the Sun crosses it at each spring and autumn equinox.

The yellow-white star is 28 times brighter than the Sun and four times the size. It is currently in the process of cooling down and will eventually become a red giant. Gamma Cassiopeiae is the central star in the W shape and currently the brightest star in the constellation.

It is a blue star spectral type B0. Gamma Cassiopeiae is an eruptive variable star that serves as a prototype of a class of stars, the Gamma Cassiopeiae variable stars.

It exhibits irregular variations in brightness, which ranges between 2. The star rotates very rapidly and bulges outward along the equator.

The star was used as a navigational reference point by astronauts. Gamma Cassiopeiae is a spectroscopic binary star, an optical double with a magnitude 11 companion about two arc seconds away, one with a mass comparable to that of the Sun.

The orbital period is roughly days. The star is a known X-ray source. The amount of X-ray radiation that it emits is 10 times higher than that of other B or Be class stars.

Gamma Cassiopeiae was the first Be star known e stands for emission. Delta Cassiopeiae is an eclipsing binary star with a period of days. It belongs to the spectral class A5. It is about 99 light years distant and has an apparent magnitude that varies between 2. It is the fourth brightest star in the constellation. Sometimes the star is also known as Ksora. Epsilon Cassiopeiae is a bright blue-white B-class giant, approximately light years distant. It is 2, times more luminous than the Sun.

Archaeological studies have identified possible astronomical markings painted on the walls in the cave system at Lascaux in southern France. Our ancestors may have recorded their view of the night sky on the walls of their cave some 17 years ago.

It is thought that the Pleiades star cluster is represented alongside the nearby cluster of the Hyades. Was the first ever depiction of a star pattern made over seventeen millennia ago? Over half of the 88 constellations the IAU recognizes today are attributed to ancient Greek, which consolidated the earlier works by the ancient Babylonian, Egyptian and Assyrian. Originally the constellations were defined informally by the shapes made by their star patterns, but, as the pace of celestial discoveries quickened in the early 20th century, astronomers decided it would be helpful to have an official set of constellation boundaries.

One reason was to aid in the naming of new variable stars, which brighten and fade rather than shine steadily. Such stars are named for the constellation in which they reside, so it is important to agree where one constellation ends and the next begins.